How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith

 

This is the latest book about  Mma Precious Ramotswe and the No. 1 Ladies Detective agency of Gaborone, Botswana. The full cast is reassembled to tell the story of a baby elephant which has come into the possession of Charlie, part-time junior detective as well as part-time mechanic at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors where he works for Mma Ramotswe’s husband, Mr J L B Maketoni, and what is to be done about it.

Alexander McCall Smith has created an endearing yet complex character in Precious Ramotswe. She has a history which has shaped her into the outwardly gentle but inwardly strong person she is today. She had an idyllic childhood with a father she adored but went on to make a disastrous first marriage which caused her great unhappiness and suffering, both emotional and physical. She became determined to start a new life and with the help of the legacy from the sale of her father’s cattle she started her own detective agency, learning as she went along with the help of a book by the inspirational Mr Clovis Anderson.

By the time the current book appears Mma Ramotswe has gained many years of experience in her chosen profession and has an assistant, Mma Makutsi who was originally employed as a secretary but who has always seen herself as a fellow detective and so becomes involved in all the cases which the agency takes on.

As usual Mma Ramotswe is called upon to use her powers of understanding of the human psyche and what makes people tick. She has to get behind the reason a distant cousin has appeared asking her for a loan and she also gives some well considered advice to her new neighbour. All of this comes on top of solving the problem of what to do with the baby elephant.

So, Precious Ramotswe continues to find peace and fulfilment in the life she has chosen and she deserves all the happiness that comes her way. Thank you, Alexander McCall Smith for another gentle, low-key but ultimately uplifting story. I would have to give all the books in this series 5 out of 5, if only for their beautifully illustrated covers!

Published by Little, Brown.